Unlike other factions, Welsh units rely on one thing, and one thing alone: surprise. Modelled after the army of Gwynedd, the Welsh army is poor on archers (they only receive the Helwr), but good on skirmishers and spearmen. Helwyr are in effect scouts and archers combined; they cannot be upgraded to Crossbow Infantry. However, you will discover that their abilities in ambushing from forests using their longbows can bring a lot of enemies to grief. If that was not enough, the Welsh Teulu are also expert skirmishers — they are stealthed, regardless where they go, so an enemy will be hard pressed to guess where you will be attacking from.

On the other hand, Welsh heavy units are a tactically mixed bag of blessings. Opponents such as England may have as many as three new Imperial Era units from the barracks, but Welsh units don't really benefit too well from Centralisation: heavy cavalry and infantry aside, you will be stuck with whatever you had left over from the Castle Age, and Welsh light cavalry is horribly underpowered — in the Imperial Era, the only face-saving unit you may have would be mercenary Broken Men from Scotland, who sacrifice speed for hitpoints, a rather poor combination in many cases. Infantry are also somewhat nerfed, having fairly poor hitpoints for Castle Age heavy infantry, but they make up for it being strong anti-cavalry units. Similarly, Retinue Cavalry, shared with the Norse, have terrible attack but make up for it by having no ramp costs in metal. Nevertheless, the Welsh unlike the Japanese have access to cheap gunpowder units, so they are not completely helpless.

The Welsh way of war thus is about using stealth and subterfuge on the defensive, as opposed to set-piece battles like those fought by China or Burgundy. This is problematic, since most players will be sending scouts along with their troops to keep watch for your units, and you don't really have any fast units that can take them out before the foe spots your army. On the other hand, cheaper light infantry and cavalry can lend opportunities for some early raiding, thus possibly keeping your opponent on the back foot while your economy expands faster than his own. Like the Welsh of old, your faction's economy will be based on one thing: food. Keep building as many loggers as you can to take advantage of this ability to receive a greater stream of food in addition to your own farms and fishing trawlers at sea.

As for politics, the ability to place down your first Senate for free can be very useful in deciding defensive strategies: once you have found a good place to defend, put down your Senate at once and your opponents will be hard pressed to get to you, provided you continue to build castles to improve what natural defences you already have. In war, no one single unit can achieve victory for you, but you will be relying heavily on your unique units, with cavalry playing a support role. The cheaper costs of the Retinue Cavalry will allow you to spam Rhehel and Sciltron Infantry to support for your invisible javelin cavalry and your infantry armies, otherwise in a war of attrition against more advanced and more prosperous nations like England or China your infantry armies will defnitely suffer heavily, given that they are highly inferior to other factions' by the Imperial Era.

Faction which places emphasis on stealth and flexibility over efficiency.

Seeing the Trees for the Forest — Woodlands are a very important part of the Welsh economy, as they produce extra food. Always seek the largest woodlands for their timber and food, but do not forget to neglect metal for your heavy infantry.

A Free Country — Another fundamental feature of the Welsh faction is their ability to create a senate for free and instantaneously. While it seems logical to just place it right off the bat, you would be better advised to withold it until you can select a proper area to place it down.

Skirmisher — Wales' most important offensive units, its ranged cavalry line, are perpetually cloaked like spies. Unlike spies however, these units are subceptible to attrition, so you might want to think carefully about how you are to use these units.

Sniper — Welsh helwyr share the same abilities as a scout, but are armed with a powerful ranged attack, making it the best archer unit behind Japanese Noblewomen. You may find these units worth using, especially in heavily forested maps. In your territory, these units can see hidden units, while being hidden themselves.

Signs of Ageing — Although the Welsh do get the Man-at-Arms and the Trooper in the Imperial Era, whether these units can make a difference in the face of more advanced infantry is fairly questionable, so a Welsh player should learn to stall his enemies or as long as he may, avoiding set-piece battles where necessary.

During the Dark Ages, the Saxons, Angles, Jutes and Frisians were colonising England and forced the Celts back to Kernow, Scotland and Wales. Wales contained several small kingdoms, although there were a few rulers, such as Rhodri the Great, who controlled nearly all of Wales. The separate kingdoms, with the help of the mountainous terrain, managed to hold the Germanic raiders at bay, although Kernow was soon lost.

When the Normans invaded England in 1066, a new invasion of Wales was started. They settled mostly in the south of Wales, but their hold was tenuous at best. While the Normans drove out the king of Gwynedd in the north, Welsh resistance was centred in the west. In the 12th century, the situation reversed. The lords of Gwynedd returned from exile in Ireland and drove out the Normans, but the Welsh were fighting a losing battle against Norman power in the south. Soon, the lords of the south were of little importance, while the princes of Gwynedd would become the dominant figures in Welsh politics.

The Welsh ways of warfare were very different from those of the Normans; they used hit-and-run raids to lower morale, attacking supplies and lone troops, relying mostly on their infamous longbows and javelins. There was only one answer to this: building impregnable castles all over Wales to cement Norman power. The Welsh Wars, as they are called, saw Llywelyn II, prince of Gwynedd, pitted against King Edward I.

At first, the Welsh were fighting quite successfully against the English, but when Llywelyn II was killed in a skirmish, the Welsh cause collapsed. The remaining Welsh freedom fighters were captured and executed for treason, and the land annexed by 1283. Nevertheless, the Welsh held on to their identity. The English adopted their weapon, the longbow, and for centuries to come the Welsh would find profession mostly in English — later British — armies, while eventually a line of Welsh-born nobles, the Tudors, would be dominant in England during the early 16th century. ﻿